At a price of more than $100 a ton, it’s hard for governmental officials to consider road salt a bargain.

However, considering one option they discussed but declined in August was to buy it at more than $134 a ton, the Lake Township trustees Tuesday reluctantly agreed to buy 200 tons at a price of $21,050 - $105.25 per ton.

To facilitate the purchase, the trustees approved a transfer of $19,000 from a contingencies fund to a fund for operating supplies for roads.

Dan McLargin, road supervisor, told the trustees the new supply would increase the township’s stockpile to about 600 tons. Last winter, the road department went through about 700 tons, he said.

“We have to keep our people safe,” Melanie Bowen, chairman of the trustees, said, adding the high price will probably result in the trustees having to reduce spending elsewhere.

Kelly J. Kaczala news editor at The Press, and Melissa A. Burden, a senior writer at The Press, won the Press Club of Toledo’s Touchstone award in the non-daily category for their stories that questioned the need for a proposed 0.5 percent senior levy in Oregon.

Kaczala and Burden had uncovered information that showed campaign supporters of the levy suggested that the money was needed for the city’s senior center because the Area Office on Aging of Northwest Ohio, Inc., and the City of Oregon had cut its budget. They found that funding by the Area Office on Aging had been cut in previous years because the senior center had been underperforming and had not used all the monies allocated by the agency.

Five to be inducted at Birmingham Hall of Fame banquetThe Birmingham Hall of Fame’s 38th Annual Inductee and Scholarship Banquet will be held Sunday, Oct. 19 at St. Stephen School Hall, 2018 Consaul St. in East Toledo.

The celebration will begin at 4:30 p.m. with a social hour. At 6 p.m. Takacs’s “World Famous Chicken Paprika and Pigs in the Blanket” will be served family-style.

Banquet tickets are $25 per person and $12.50 for children 6 to 12 years old. Children under six years old will be admitted free.

Tickets are available at Takacs Grocery & Meats, 1956 Genesee St., Toledo Monday through Saturday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. or by calling 419-693-9233. Proceeds raised will support the Birmingham community and scholarships.

Village council Monday directed its village solicitor, James Barney, to ready legislation to phase in a rate hike over the next three years: 2 percent for 2015, 2 percent for 2016 and 1 percent for 2017. The first of three readings will take place at the regular meeting Oct. 20.

Village leaders, on the advice of consultants Courtney & Associates, are hoping to fend off a plunge into red ink forecasted in the electrical fund if rates aren’t increased.

The consultants had suggested a single 5 percent increase. The utilities committee of council debated a 5 percent increase versus the 2-2-1 package suggested by Village Administrator Randy Genzman.

Oregon City Council will soon be considering an ordinance that would improve the water treatment process by using ozone instead of high levels of chlorine to treat algae in the drinking water.

“I’ll likely present an ordinance to council within a week or so,” said Public Service Director Paul Roman last Wednesday.

Chlorine is used to treat elevated levels of algae toxins, such as microcystin, in the drinking water. When chemical disinfectants such as chlorine react with organic material in the water, new compounds known as Disinfection Byproducts (DBP’s) are formed. Trihalomethanes (TTHM) are one such DBP.

In September, Oregon issued a drinking water notice to all of its water customers after a water sample showed TTHM above the drinking water standards. The water system violated the maximum contaminant level for TTHM with an average level over the last four quarters of 0.081 mg/L. The standard is 0.080 mg/L.